Comparative Study of Personality Trait Characteristics and Reactivity in Schizophrenia Using a Film Clip Paradigm.

The empirical examination of personality characteristics related to the experience of strong negative emotions and the associated physiological response may help account for idiosyncratic responses to life events in schizophrenia. The current study examines the relationship between levels of neuroticism and arousability and physiological and emotional reactivity during the viewing of film clips with differing emotional valance. Data were collected on emotional and cardiovascular and cortisol reactivity across experimental conditions for a sample of outpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia and a comparison group of nonpsychiatric controls.

Quantification of abdominal wall pain using pain pressure threshold algometry in patients with chronic pelvic pain.

Objective: Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) is a syndrome involving 1 or more pain generating organs in the pelvis, which includes pain from the lower anterior abdominal wall. This entity has been termed myofascial pain syndrome (MFPS), but its characteristics, definition, and quantification have not been well described. In this study, pain pressure threshold (PPT) testing of the lower anterior abdominal wall in CPP patients was performed to determine the range and distribution of values at each site, and the clinical utility of using PPT in a definition of MFPS.

Frequency and distribution of multiple diagnoses in chronic pelvic pain related to previous abuse or drug-seeking behavior.

Background: The objective of this study was to describe the nature and number of pain diagnoses in a chronic pelvic pain population, and to determine the relationship between these and a patient's history of abuse, drug-seeking behavior, or initial symptom scores.

Methods: 175 consecutive patients were evaluated at the Summa Chronic Pelvic Pain Center and assigned diagnoses. These diagnoses included gynecologic pain, interstitial cystitis (IC), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), pelvic floor tension myalgia, abdominal wall myalgia, and vulvodynia.